Turkish Football Federation receives broad international support for 'betting'
The disclosure of the list of those involved in the betting case was a continuation of the joint actions of the TFF, Istanbul Prosecutor’s Office, Interpol and UEFA after 24 suspects were detained at the end of December. Among them were former Galatasaray director Erden Timur, Eyüpspor (Turkish Super League) vice president Fatih Kulaksiz, TFF’s administrative director for Bugra national teams Cem Imamogulları, 14 players and a number of representatives of lower league clubs. Four more defendants have been declared wanted and one is already in prison.
The new year began with another wave of revelations. It became known that 108 coaches and 104 managers of professional soccer clubs will appear before the TFF disciplinary committee. According to the Turkish portal Haber7, the coaches Mehmet Altiparmak (Sivasspor), Hakan Keles (Adanaspor) and Metin Ilhan (Eyüpspor) are among those involved in the “betting case”.
One of the top scorers in the history of Turkish championships, former national team and Kayserispor striker Gokhan Unal, is on the list released by TFF. From July to December 2025, he headed the coaching staff of Erciyes 38, represented in Turkey’s fourth most important league.
Sercan Yildirim, another ex-footballer of the Turkish national team, said in an interview with Sports Digitale that he had nothing to do with the case. “The Sercan Yildirim listed is not me. My phone won’t stop ringing because of the similarity of the names. I received my Category B coaching license in September [2025]. I have not yet coached anywhere but my own team. I respectfully request that this misconception spread by the media be corrected,” said the former player and now coach of his own soccer academy in the municipality of Nilufer near Bursa.
Former Galatasaray sports director Cenk Ergün is also among those on the radar of the TFF disciplinary committee. The manager spent 18 years in the system of one of Turkey’s most titled clubs and is considered one of the most influential people in his field. He left Galatasaray in 2024, resigning of his own accord. Although no official reason for his departure has been given, it is believed that he had disagreements with the club on a number of issues.
Logos Press previously reported on an investigation in Turkey from 2020, which revealed that around 65% of the 570 professional referees working in the country’s professional leagues and more than 4,000 footballers turned out to be customers of betting shops. The federation suspended 149 referees for a period ranging from eight months to one year, and about 1,000 soccer players were suspended from participating in professional tournaments.
Later, Istanbul Prosecutor General Akın Gürlek said about the possibility of detention of senior officials of a number of Turkish clubs suspected of influencing the outcome of soccer matches.
